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VisitBritain to roll out global James Bond cinema ad

VisitBritain is marking the launch of the latest James Bond movie Skyfall with its first international cinema ad, which encourages foreigners to visit the UK and 'live like Bond'.

The tourism body is rolling out a cinema ad with archive clips from all six Bond actors: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. The footage is spliced with shots of British cities and countryside.

The ad concludes with a scene from Skyfall, with current Bond actor Craig gazing out over London's skyline and the message 'Bond is GREAT Britain' on screen. It concludes with VisitBritain's 'You're invited' strapline.

The spot has been created by production company Empire with media planning and buying handled by WPP's MediaCom.

To support the ad, VisitBritain is partnering British Airways, Radisson Blu hotels, Aston Martin and Twentieth Century Fox to offer consu-mers the opportunity to 'Live like Bond'.

It will also run a series of promotions and competitions, while a dedicated 'Agent UK' website will allow consumers to complete online missions around the UK.

A wider print, outdoor and digital campaign will run in 21 countries, while the cinema ad will go live in six cities across four key markets: S‹o Paolo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Los Angeles in the US; Berlin in Germany; and Sydney and Melbourne in Australia.

VisitBritain is not the first to have cashed in on the Bond franchise this year. Coke Zero promoted its association with the film in a new ad that has its characters humming the Bond theme, while Heineken's TV and digital campaign builds on the beer brand's product-placement deal with Skyfall.

Sky has made a TV ad using all the previous Bonds cut into a single car chase, to promote its dedicated Bond channel, Sky Movies 007 HD.

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